The “Tell” – Springdell Winter CSA Pickup #2

Hi everyone, Jess here to recap the second box from the Winter CSA! The past two weeks in the Anderson household have been a little crazed. My other half was in a different time zone, and Nan had a nasty cold (which I subsequently picked up). Nonetheless, our share was enjoyed!

For Meatless Monday, I decided to try General Tso’s tofu, which was a total hit with the kiddos!

You can tell things were zany as there is homework ant dinner on the table at the same time… The recipe we tried was adapted from Vegetarian Times and quite good as-is. I cut a few corners by pulling out the sauté pan over the cookie sheet, as baking the tofu takes much longer. If you make this recipe as written, be sure to plan ahead. It’s a really simple recipe, but requires time to allow the tofu to drain and marinate.

The broccoli was amazing this week! For the second batch, a quick roast at 400 with a sprinkle of grated Parmesan during the last five minutes of cooking, and voila!

Meanwhile, over in Shanghai, my other half was enjoying all kinds of interesting delicacies, including cow stomach and goose intestine hot pot. I always love these trips. Though I miss having my teammate around, I love the photos of food from the other side of the world. As souvenirs, I received a couple of packages of hot pot spices, and I’m sure I’ll be sharing some hot pot adventures in a future post.

Here we have roasted Springdell cheese & garlic sausage with golden carrots, onion, potatoes, and dried thyme from the garden. This meal was kind of a throw together, but came out successful!

I drizzled some olive oil in a 3 quart baking dish (roasting pan is even better if you like the caramelization). I tossed in 2 small onions cut into wedges, a few small carrots cut into one inch pieces, and a pound of sausage (today was the cheese & garlic sausage). Next I added baby fingerlings, halving the bigger ones. I tossed the meat and veggie mixture with olive oil and seasoned to taste (I used thyme, salt and pepper tonight) and baked at 350 for 30 minutes. After a stir, I cranked it to 400 near the end until the sausage was cooked through and things were done to my liking. One pot shopping!

The rest of the carrots ended up in school snacks. The kids love bringing rainbow carrot slices and pea shoots to school.

Cream sauce is a big hit around here, at least with the grown ups. To try this at home, simply sauté shallot slivers and mushroom slices in a pat of Amish roll butter, then add a bit of broth and wine (Sherry, Marsala, Madeira or Port are great with this sauce) and simmer until reduced by about half, about 10-15 minutes. Add some heavy cream and simmer, reducing that by about half (another 10-15 minutes). I apologize for not having exact measurements. I used the box of Winter CSA button mushrooms one large shallot and maybe a 1/2 cup each of the liquids. Want it creamy? Add more cream. Want it thicker? Reduce it longer. Dont have shallots? Try onion. Toss in some herbs! It’s a very forgiving sauce to eyeball, and goes great with pasta, on steak or on roasted potatoes.If you search on “Mushroom Cream” on the search bar in the CSA365 homepage, you’ll see this sauce in several cameos.

Ahh maple glazed roasted parsnips. These really do best in a roasting pan if you like the sticky caramelization. Tonight I used a baking pan but they weren’t quite as sticky as I prefer (still good though!) Toss your parsnips in a bit of vegetable oil, drizzle with maple syrup and roast at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes. Checking and continuing to cook until tender to your liking.

It’s been a fun couple of weeks! I look forward to hearing more about how you are enjoying your share, keep the questions and comments coming! See you back here in a few hours for the next show of the Springdell Show and Tell!

About Jess

Jess Anderson is the creator of CSA|365 and is passionate about the local food movement. A busy mother of two, Jess loves keeping her family fed by honest local food. She is involved with the Westford Community Garden Working Group, Friends of Fat Moon, and is the current chair of the Westford Strawberries 'N Arts Festival.